Brice Hill Sells 5,000 Shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT traded up $10.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $369.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,780,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,479,592. The firm has a market cap of $293.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $376.32. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $298.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $239.54.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 119.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $8,405,458,000 after acquiring an additional 17,829,377 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,858,543,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 617.2% in the third quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,869,170,000 after purchasing an additional 7,856,576 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,409,320,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho upped their price target on Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Applied Materials from $350.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $363.04.

More Applied Materials News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management’s strong post‑earnings guidance and reported beat — investors are pricing in a multi‑year growth cycle after AMAT topped Q1 estimates and management signaled robust 2026 revenue growth and strong Q2 revenue guidance. 3 Under-the-Radar Earnings Surprises Could Signal a New Trend (AMAT)
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large call option flow — traders bought ~97,138 call contracts (≈231% above typical daily call volume), a near‑term technical/positioning catalyst that often precedes upward stock moves as market makers hedge by buying shares. (Options flow report)
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and upward estimate revisions — Zacks upgraded AMAT to a Strong Buy and multiple note writers have raised earnings estimates, supporting momentum and higher price targets. Applied Materials (AMAT) Upgraded to Strong Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street bullishness / price target lifts — selective analysts (coverage cited in recent writeups) have raised targets (one note highlighted a $450 target), reinforcing the upside narrative tied to AI-driven equipment demand. Applied Materials Seen Winning (Yahoo/InsiderMonkey)
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor engagement — management will appear at upcoming investor conferences (visibility can help sustain momentum but is informational rather than catalytic). Applied Materials to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst commentary — some articles note “conflicting sentiments” across technology coverage (different time horizons/assumptions), so expect divergent views even amid the bullish trend. Analysts Have Conflicting Sentiments (Globe & Mail)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears anomalous (reported as 0 shares / NaN changes) — treat that as noisy or reporting error rather than a meaningful short squeeze signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Some broker notes are more conservative — a recent DZ Bank move to a “Hold” reminds investors there remains analyst dispersion; not all shops are upgrading simultaneously. DZ Bank upgrade to Hold (TickerReport)

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.